Smoky Chickpea, Red Lentil & Vegetable Soup
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This warming, satisfying lentil and vegetable soup comes together in just 30 minutes.
Photo by Johnny Miller (Clarkson Potter, 2021)
For a vegetarian recipe made almost entirely from pantry staples (and I mean true staples, not staples from some well-stocked dream kitchen), this vegetable soup is surprisingly delicious. It’s thickened by puréeing a portion of the soup and then stirring it back into the pot (a technique I also use in other veggie and bean soups like pasta e fagioli and mulligatawny). This method gives the soup a wonderfully rich and hearty texture without relying on heavy cream or flour. The soup takes just 30 minutes to come together, start to finish, yet tastes like you spent all day in the kitchen, and it’s good for you, too. For the cooked vegetables, feel free to use any quick-cooking, frozen, or leftover vegetables you have on hand. The recipe is extremely flexible and very hearty!
Table of Contents
“Super simple and delicicious. It’s a keeper.”
What You’ll Need To Make Chickpea, Lentil and Vegetable Soup
- Olive Oil: Used to sauté the onions, garlic, carrots, and spices, adding richness and helping to develop a deep flavor base for the soup.
- Onion and Garlic: Provide a savory foundation and depth, essential for building the soup’s overall flavor.
- Carrot: Adds a subtle sweetness and contributes to the hearty texture of the soup.
- Paprika and Cumin: Infuse the soup with smoky and earthy flavors, enhancing the overall warmth and complexity.
- Vegetable or Chicken Broth: Acts as the soup’s liquid base, balancing flavors and providing a rich, savory undertone. Opt for low-sodium broth here.
- Diced Tomatoes: Contribute acidity and a subtle sweetness, adding depth to the broth.
- Red Lentils: Thicken the soup and add protein, creating a hearty texture. It’s important to stick with red lentils here due to their quick cooking time. Use 1/3 cup as specified in the recipe, as using more can make the soup too thick.
- Dried Thyme: Adds an aromatic, earthy note that complements the soup’s savory elements.
- Bay Leaves: Infuse the soup with a mild herbal flavor, enhancing its overall complexity.
- Chickpeas: Add texture, protein, and a nutty flavor, making the soup more substantial.
- Cooked Vegetables: Provide additional texture and nutrients, rounding out the soup with a variety of flavors and colors. I like to use frozen peas and green beans but you can use any quick cooking, frozen, or leftover vegetables you have on hand. The recipe is very flexible!
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-by-Step Instructions
Begin by cooking the onions in olive oil until soft. Add the carrots, garlic, smoked paprika and cumin and cook until fragrant, a few minutes.
Add the broth, tomatoes, lentils, thyme, bay leaves, salt, and pepper.
Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the chickpeas and continue cooking 10 minutes more.
Remove a few cups of the soup and place in a blender or food processor.
Purée until smooth.
Pour the puréed soup back into the pot. Stir and taste; if you want the soup to be thicker, purée a bit more. Add the vegetables.
Bring the soup back to a simmer and serve.
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Smoky Chickpea, Red Lentil & Vegetable Soup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 large carrot, diced
- Heaping ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ¾ teaspoon ground cumin
- 4 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth
- 1 14.5-ounce (411-g) can diced tomatoes
- ⅓ cup red lentils
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 15.5-ounce (439-g) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup cooked vegetables, such as frozen peas or chopped green beans
Instructions
- In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, carrots, smoked paprika and cumin; cook, stirring frequently so the garlic doesn't brown, about 2 minutes more.
- Add the broth, diced tomatoes, red lentils, thyme, bay leaves, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil. Cover the pot and reduce the heat to a simmer; cook for ten minutes. Add the chickpeas, cover the pot and cook 10 minutes more. Fish out the bay leaves, then transfer 2 cups of the soup to a blender and purée until smooth (be sure to remove the center knob on the blender and cover with a dishtowel to avoid splatters). Add the puréed soup back to the pot and stir. Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary; if you want the soup to be thicker, purée a bit more soup. Add the cooked vegetables and simmer until the soup is hot and the vegetables are warmed through. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve.
Notes
Pair with
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Comments
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This is another soup we make for a work week of dinners. We double the recipe, precook about 3 C of rice, and over the week have the soup mixed with some rice. Perfect complimentary protein. GREAT weekday meals. Never boring.
loved the colour and texture of the soup… i was looking for the soup for my young one and it was perfect !!!! can we add some cream ??
Sure, go for it!
I was looking for a quick vegan soup recipe and this worked out perfectly. It was easy to make and was delicious. I followed the ingredients as written, using vegetable broth and green beans for the green vegetable.
This soup is now my go-to recipe for a vegetarian meal! Even my carnivorous son eats it (not with as much gusto as the rest of the family, but that’s definitely saying a lot!). The contrast in colors is so beautiful! To thicken the soup, I added some instant potato flakes.
I love this recipe. In addition to tasting delicious, it is very pretty to look at. Nice combination of colors. My husband decided it needed a little something else so he put a few splashes of hot sauce in it and declared it perfect! I couldn’t find smoked paprika and used Hungarian paprika. I wonder if that was why it was a little lacking…
Yes, Barbara, the smoked paprika makes a big difference.
Had a few ladies over for lunch and made this soup to go along with a salad. It was a big hit. So much flavor. The only problem was I wish I had doubled the recipe so I could have more for dinner and to share it with my family! Next time…
Amazing! Perfect as written. My second time making it I realized I was out of chickpeas, so I used cannelini beans and threw in 3 slices of sliced bacon when sautéing the onions. That was good as well. I love a recipe that adjusts to my pantry.
Jenn- if I want to make his for a large group (24) would I just quadruple the recipe?
Hi Sue, Yes, that will work fine.
hi ..i was wondering..i am going to make this for supper…have you ever doubled the recipe? if so did it turn out ok? i love all the different recipes:) thanks …lisa
Hi Lisa, yes, it is fine to double the recipe. Enjoy!
Hi Chef, A question about curry powder…I cooked a chicken curry last night following, more or less, your recipe and found it needed significant additions of garam masala, red pepper flakes, turmeic and madras curry powder to have enough flavor for our unsophisticated taste. The curry powder I used was the ‘off the shelf’ Durkee blend. I think these commercial curry powders are to Indian cooking what Chef Boyardee is to Italian food…but I don’t know where to find a real recipe. So the question is: What do you use in your curry powder? Thank you. (I very much like your site and your approach to cooking)
Hi Bill, I’m not familiar with that brand but for this recipe I use McCormick curry powder, which is off the shelf as well. I think it works, and I try to use products that are readily available at most supermarkets, so that everyone else’s result will be the same as mine. That said, you could always make your own. Try: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/homemade-curry-powder-241909 or http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/curry-powder-blend-recipe.html. Hope that helps!